Now that the surprise news of Disney’s latest acquisition , Marvel entertainment, has subsided somewhat, speculation is now starting to mount of what exactly Disney plans to do with the brand. Are we likely to see the Marvel superheroes running down Main St, or is there bigger plans on the horizon? What now for Universal, Marvels recent suitors who have an entire ‘land’ in their Islands of Adventure park dedicated to the likes of Spidey and co?

It seems likely that a driving factor behind the Marvel deal was to fill a void in the age demographic of its audience. Most young children will have some connection with one of more of Disney’s core characters, such as Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Buzz etc. Girls in particular also have the Disney princesses and Tinker Bell, whereas those in the tween generation are drawn to the more mature, live action shows and characters such as the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana and High School Musical.

Boys in the 10-15 age range on the other hand, tend to outgrow the more familiar Disney characters and find the boyfriend/girlfriend, lovey dovey plots of HSM a bit ‘girlie’ to share any great affinity with them. Although the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies has restored some balance to things, its still an age group which perhaps misses out more than most in having something they can relate to, and in Disney’s thinking at least, sell merchandise to.

Having earlier this year launched its new Disney XD channel (launches Aug 31st in the UK) which is primarily aimed at young to mid-teen boys, it gives Disney the perfect platform from which to introduce some of its newly acquired catalogue of Marvel characters, some 5000+ in all. It would be foolish to suggest they didn’t have this in mind when deciding to proceed with the deal, and will go some way to help fill out their schedules.

When this occurs, it will introduce, or re-introduce a section of the Disney fan-base to Marvel and its comic-book heros and villans. It would seem logical thereafter, that these figures are then integrated somehow with the Disney theme parks.

This may not be quite so straight forward however, as Universal hold sway over some of the best known Marvel characters. The licensing agreements in place prior to Disney’s acquisition are not likely to be challenged, at least not in the short term, meaning Universal retain the rights to use the Hulk, Spiderman and the X-men in their parks. Disney have gone on record as saying these contracts will be honoured, although it’s interesting to note they only apply to the East side of the US and Japan, so theoretically there could be a ‘Dream Along with Professor X’ parade at Disneyland in the near future.

But with Disney almost certain to produce more live action Marvel based movies in years to come, there will come a time when they may wish to buy out any existing contracts to gain exclusivity on some of the more marketable characters, which is likely to mean plenty of legal wrangling between third parties such as Universal. It remains to be seen whether Universal have the stomach for the fight though, as a potentially crippling buyout contract it has with Steven Spielberg and an April 2010 billion dollar debt refinancing deadline, on top of paying Disney royalties to use the Marvel name may just force their hand.

Regardless of this however, it’s likely we’ll see some amount of Marvel in the theme parks soon, with merchandise no doubt appearing at resort and park gift shops. When, and where a more obvious prescence is noticed in the parks we shall continue to speculate.

The frontrunner could be Disney’s California Adventure, a park in need of something to give it the ‘must see’ tag. A Marvel influence could just give it some much needed exposure.

Meet and Greets with Marvel characters seem plausible, with the Disney Studios a likely fit for any such location,  especially on the back of any Disney/Marvel movie release.

A new Marvel store at Downtown Disney, Disney Village and such like?

How about taking it to the max and adding an entire Marvel based theme park, the long-time rumoured ‘fifth gate’ at WDW?

Whatever happens, it’s clearly a shrewd move on Disney’s part, and one which could ultimately turn out as lucrative as the deal struck with Pixar in 2006. It’s difficult to ignore Pixar’s presence in Disney parks now, such is the popularity and demand for their creations.

As alluded to earlier though, trying to fit the likes of Thor and the Fantastic 4 into parks other than the Studios (where we’ve seen the likes of the Power Rangers and TMNT over the years) may be tricky, which is why Disney could decide to segregate them into something of their very own.

One thing is certain though, the arrival of Marvel to the Disney clan has definately cranked the rumour mill into overdrive, and we wait with bated breath to see how this partnership develops in the coming months and years.